Sonos’ latest compact sound bar, the Ray, has achieved a welcome balance for consumers by reducing unnecessary features at a lower price, while offering the highest quality audio for a serious upgrade of TV sound and multi-room music. unmatched.
At a cost of £ 279 ($ 279 / $ 399), it’s an all-in-one, which means you don’t need a separate subwoofer or other speakers for full sound. It comes under excellent £ 449 Beam and £ 899 Arc sound bars as a Sonos entry level unit. The question now is, do you really need to spend more?
With a smaller, flatter design than the larger Beam and Arc, its four speakers face directly on the front grille, making it easy to place on TV stands without affecting sound. In terms of size, it is slightly wider than a full-size keyboard and quite short, so it does not block the view from the bottom of the TV screen in a closet, which can be a problem for higher rivals .
It has touch buttons at the top for pause / play and volume. Swipe between the volume buttons to skip the track. Photography: Samuel Gibbs / The Guardian
Hidden in a recess in the back are connections for power and Ethernet, if you don’t want to use wifi. However, there is no HDMI port, but you have to rely on the much older optical cable to connect your TV. Most TVs have an optical port, which simplifies things, but limits the sound formats Ray supports to the old Dolby Digital or DTS, not the newer Dolby Atmos soundtracks.
I think this is a corner worth cutting for a lower price. Because Dolby Atmos movies also contain standard Dolby Digital soundtracks, Ray will still be able to play it all.
Setting up the Ray is easy: plug it in, plug in the optical cable on the back and on your TV, and then follow the instructions in the Sonos app on an Android or iPhone to connect to the wifi , check connections and set up volume control. using the remote control. Photography: Samuel Gibbs / The Guardian
The only notable potential problem with sound bars that do not have an HDMI port is how to control the volume. If you use the optical cable, your TV cannot control the sound bar using HDMI-CEC, a connection that allows most TVs to control sound bars and other devices using a remote control. Remote control TVs with motion or voice control, like many in the LG range, may not be able to adjust the volume of the Ray, so you’ll need to use the phone app or press the buttons on the bar. of sound. However, a standard infrared TV remote control or decoder such as Sky Q or an Apple TV can increase and decrease the sound without any problems. The Sonos app will check you as part of your setup routine.
Watching TV
Used with Sky Q and content on demand via an Apple TV box, everything was kept in perfect sync, which is not always the case with sound bars. Photography: Samuel Gibbs / The Guardian
Just start watching TV to automatically switch to the audio of your show or movie. The Ray sounds very impressive for its size and price, surpassing much bigger and more expensive rivals.
The dialogue is very clear, even when the action is intense and fast. The action on the screen has the right blow and energy, being precise and controlled at all times. There are more serious than I expected from a compact all-in-one system, which handles all explosions except the biggest ones with aplomb. Only a system with a separate large subwoofer would be capable of more.
The speaker can be very loud, with 40% more volume than enough for a reasonably sized British living room. But it also has a dedicated dialog enhancer and night mode, which suppresses dynamic range to keep things intelligible at lower volumes. The sound is more direct than the more expensive models, however, it creates less virtual surround effect than the Beam.
Specifications
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Size: 55.9 x 9.5 x 7.1 cm
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Weight: 1.95 kg
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Speakers: two tweeters, two midwoofers
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Connectivity: wifi b / g / n, optical, Ethernet, IR, AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect
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Audio formats: PCM stereo, Dolby Digital, DTS Surround
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Software: Sonos S2
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CPU: Quad-core 1.4GHz A-53
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RAM: 1 GB
Listening to music
The two midwoofers and two tweeters hidden behind the grill produce a really great sound quality of music. Photography: Samuel Gibbs / The Guardian
It’s even better with the music, producing a sound that fills the room with a good stereo separation from such a narrow bar, clear vocals, sharp treble and lots of bass for all but the deepest notes. Most genres sound brilliant, but rock songs like AC / DC’s Back in Black that came out at the beginning of Iron Man were especially good.
It streams music via wifi controlled by the Sonos app, supports virtually every major service, including Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and BBC Sounds, as well as Apple AirPlay 2 and Spotify Connect.
It can be paired with other Sonos or Ikea speakers for synchronized multi-room audio, or paired with surround speakers and a standalone subwoofer for a home theater setup. Ray also supports Sonos’ Trueplay auto-tuning system using an iPhone or iPad, if you have one.
Sustainability
The Ray is generally repairable and there are limited spare parts available. The company is committed to having a minimum of five years of software support for feature updates after you stop selling a product, but has a much longer track record, including bug fixes and security for your products. inherited.
The soundbar does not contain recycled material, but Sonos is committed to using recycled plastics and designs with disassembly in mind for repair, renovation, and recycling from 2023. It offers product exchange and recycling. and publishes annual responsibility and sustainability reports.
Price
The Sonos Ray costs £ 279 (A $ 279 / $ 399).
In comparison, sound bars start at less than £ 100, with more capable models costing around £ 200, such as the Creative Stage 360 or the £ 270 Bose TV speaker.
Verdict
Ray is a compact, high-quality sound upgrade for your Sonos TV. It sounds miles better than most all-in-one sound bar systems for less than £ 300 and still has the simple, minimalist, easy-to-live experience with which the brand is known.
Some corners have been trimmed compared to the more expensive Beam and Arc soundbars, such as removing smart speaker features, reducing the number of speakers and virtual surround effects, and abandoning the HDMI port in favor of old optical connection.
But I don’t think most of them will miss it. The Ray still produces a striking sound from TV and movies and is even better with music, without the need for a separate subwoofer. In addition, it has the advantage of Sonos’ excellent multi-room audio platform, which is compatible with a wide range of streaming services and is constantly updated with a very long service life.
Sure, you can get cheaper soundtracks with more features, but very few are as compact and sound as good as Ray.
Advantages: compact and attractive, great TV or music sound, very clear voices, night sound mode, easy setup, wifi, ample music service support, multi-room audio system, long service life, can be expanded with additional speakers .
Cons: No optical-only HDMI, some TV remote controls won’t turn up the volume, no Dolby Atmos, no Bluetooth, no microphones for smart speaker functions, limited surround sound effect no additional speakers.
The Sonos app automatically detects, updates, and configures Ray in minutes, making it easy to set up. Photography: Samuel Gibbs / The Guardian